Mildred Rinker Bailey (February 27, 1907 – December 12, 1951) was a popular… Read Full Bio ↴Mildred Rinker Bailey (February 27, 1907 – December 12, 1951) was a popular and influential American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing".
Some of her best known hits are "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Trust In Me", "Where Are You", "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It On My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart".

Born Mildred Rinker in Tekoa, Washington, her mother, Josephine, was an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and a devout Roman Catholic. Her father, Charles, played fiddle and called square dances. Her mother played piano every evening after supper and taught Mildred to play and sing. Her brothers were the vocalist and composer Al Rinker, and the lyricist Charles Rinker.
[edit]Career

At the age of seventeen, Bailey moved to Seattle and worked as a sheet music demonstrator at Woolworth's. She married and divorced Ted Bailey, keeping his last name because she thought it sounded more American than Rinker.[3] With the help of her second husband, Benny Stafford, she became an established blues and jazz singer on the West Coast. According to Gary Giddins' book Bing Crosby – A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years 1903-1940, in 1925 she secured work for her brother, Al Rinker, and his partner Bing Crosby. Giddins further states that Crosby first heard of Louis Armstrong and other Chicago black jazz records from Bailey's own record collection. Crosby helped Bailey in turn by introducing her to Paul Whiteman. She sang with Paul Whiteman's band from 1929 to 1933 (Whiteman had a popular radio program and when Bailey debuted with her version of "Moaning Low" in 1929, public reaction was immediate, although she did not start recording with Whiteman until late 1931).
Her first two records were as uncredited vocalist for an Eddie Lang Orchestra session in 1929 ("What Kind O' Man Is You?", an obscure Hoagy Carmichael song that was only issued in the UK) and a 1930 recording of "I Like To Do Things For You" for Frankie Trumbauer. She was Whiteman's popular female vocalist through 1932 (recording in a smooth crooning style), when she left the band due to salary disagreements. She then recorded a series of records for Brunswick in 1933 (accompanied by The Dorsey Brothers), as well an all-star session with Benny Goodman's studio band in 1934 that featured Coleman Hawkins.
In the mid-1930s, she recorded with her third husband Red Norvo. A dynamic couple, they earned the nicknames "Mr. and Mrs. Swing". During this period (1936–1939) Norvo recorded for Brunswick (with Bailey as primary vocalist) and Bailey recorded her own set of recordings for Vocalion, often with Norvo's band. Some of her recordings instead featured members of Count Basie's band. Despite her divorce from Norvo, she and Red would continue to record together until 1945. Suffering from diabetes and depression (during her adult life Bailey was overweight), she only made a few recordings following World War II.
Mildred Bailey died December 12, 1951, in Poughkeepsie, New York, of heart failure, aged 44, chiefly due to her diabetes. Her ashes were scattered. Red Norvo outlived Bailey by nearly half a century, dying in April 1999, a week after his 91st birthday.

You Call It Madness
Mildred Bailey Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I cant forget the night I met you,
That's all I'm dreaming of.
Now you call it madness,
But I call it love.

You made a promise to be faithful
By all the stars above.
And now you call it madness,

But I call it love.

My heart is beating,
It keeps repeating for you constantly.
You're all I'm needing
And so I'm pleading,
Please come back to me.

You made a plaything out of romance,
What were you thinking of?
Now you call it madness,
But I call it love.

You made a plaything out of romance,
And what were you thinking of?

For now you call it madness,
But I call it love.

Overall Meaning

In the song "You Call It Madness" by Mildred Bailey, the singer reflects on a past relationship with a person they can't forget. The singer is holding onto memories of the night they met this person and their promise to remain faithful. Despite the person's betrayal, they can only describe their feelings as love, while the other dismisses it as madness. The singer's heart is consumed with thoughts of this person and they plead for their return.

The lyrics suggest a deep level of emotion and vulnerability. The singer comes across as someone who has been hurt but continues to hold onto the love they have for this person. Furthermore, the lyrics possibly indicate a power dynamic in the relationship where one person took advantage of the other's love for their own selfish needs. Despite all the pain and hurt, the singer still holds onto the hope that the person will come back to them.

Line by Line Meaning

I cant forget the night I met you,
I cannot erase the memory of the time we met.

That's all I'm dreaming of.
I constantly think about the time we spent together.

Now you call it madness,
You consider our love to be irrational.

But I call it love.
But I believe our love is true and real.

You made a promise to be faithful
You vowed to be loyal and committed to our relationship.

By all the stars above.
You made this promise to me with utmost sincerity.

My heart is beating,
My heart is filled with intense emotions for you.

It keeps repeating for you constantly.
It constantly reminds me of how much I love you.

You're all I'm needing
You are the only thing that I truly desire.

And so I'm pleading,
I am begging you to come back to me.

Please come back to me.
Please return to our relationship and make it right again.